Last night, I get a call from mom at 5:30 telling me to come over immediately. I knew she must've just gotten home and found something wrong with dad. I hurry up there after getting stuck behind a car going 20 mph half the way. Dad is on the couch downstairs, tons of dark blood in his nose and mouth and around him, but mom had already cleaned a lot of it up. He's sweating, his pupils are pinpoints and his breathing is gurgling - more of that blood stuff is probably in his lungs. Mom couldn't get him up and wanted me to try. I pinch him hard, I force his eyes open, etc., but he is totally unresponsive and I tell mom she has to call 911.
Pretty soon the room is filled with firemen, EMT's and eventually the ambulance paramedics. They think his heart may have stopped and do a little CPR. He has a very high pulse. They want to know what prescriptions he is taking. We go look at his pills and one of the bottles is totally empty; it looks like he may have overdosed on some pain medicine. Apparently, if you take too much it can make you goofy and not realize what's going on or how much you've taken and next thing you know you may have finished them off.
He go after him to the emergency room and my brother calls our uncle to inform his parents, etc. I'm getting ready to head back up there today, he's in ICU. He's on a breathing tube, his lungs are damaged from that stuff in it. If he was that way all day he could've had some brain damage from lack of oxygen. He had lots of bleeding in his stomach - tons of it. Apparently one of the doctors got him to squeeze his hand early this morning but no other movement so far.
I guess we're not totally surprised this happened, he hasn't been taking good care of himself for a long time. Last night they did a CT scan which is not a test for brain activity, but it is a static image of the brain. They found a few abnormalities, one of them apparently an old stroke no one knew he had had, and the other they have no idea - maybe multiple sclerosis or maybe something from childhood or something they just have no idea of what it might be.
Jeff and I are both fine, mom is having a bit harder time. I'm heading up there soon to hang out with her.
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Johnny
I can remember it being a very special treat to get to stay up late and watch Johnny Carson. No other late night talk show host is like him. Jay Leno, David Letterman and Conan O'Brian each have their strengths, but Johnny seemed to be the master of all aspects of late night hosting. And somehow he came across as being nice. Maybe it's the name. Johnny Carson, Jimmy Carter - add a Y on the end and you end up a nice guy? I don't know any folks in the modern era who put a Y on the end of their names into adulthood - they seem to think it makes them sound immature. But it worked for those two, didn't it? :)
Friday, January 21, 2005
Longhorns or Satan?
he he he
OSLO, Norway - President Bush’s “Hook ’em, ’horns” salute got lost in translation in Norway, where shocked people interpreted his hand gesture during his inauguration as a salute to Satan.
That’s what it means in the Nordics when you throw up the right hand with the index and pinky fingers raised, a gesture popular among heavy metal groups and their fans in the region.
“Shock greeting from Bush daughter,” a headline in the Norwegian Internet newspaper Nettavisen said above a photograph of Bush’s daughter Jenna, smiling and showing the sign.
For Texans, the gesture is a sign of love for the University of Texas Longhorns, whose fans are known to shout out “Hook ’em, ’horns!” at sporting events.
Bush, a former Texas governor, and his family made the sign to greet the Longhorn marching band as it passed during the inaugural parade through Washington during Thursday’s festivities, Norway’s largest newspaper, Verdens Gang, explained to its readers.
© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
OSLO, Norway - President Bush’s “Hook ’em, ’horns” salute got lost in translation in Norway, where shocked people interpreted his hand gesture during his inauguration as a salute to Satan.
That’s what it means in the Nordics when you throw up the right hand with the index and pinky fingers raised, a gesture popular among heavy metal groups and their fans in the region.
“Shock greeting from Bush daughter,” a headline in the Norwegian Internet newspaper Nettavisen said above a photograph of Bush’s daughter Jenna, smiling and showing the sign.
For Texans, the gesture is a sign of love for the University of Texas Longhorns, whose fans are known to shout out “Hook ’em, ’horns!” at sporting events.
Bush, a former Texas governor, and his family made the sign to greet the Longhorn marching band as it passed during the inaugural parade through Washington during Thursday’s festivities, Norway’s largest newspaper, Verdens Gang, explained to its readers.
© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Inauguration? Bah Humbug!
After having listened to some of Condoleezza Rice's nonsense at her confirmation hearings, I am convinced she has practically sold her soul to the devil. I know I am usually not so strongly opinionated but this lady really got to me. I kind of expect it from the author of the Patriot Act, but to see an African American woman spout such bull-hockey is frustrating.
Today is the inauguration - what a waste of dough that could be used for peace, or even for armor for soldiers instead of them sitting there taking slabs of steel and riveting them to their trucks for the illusion of protection. But, no, we send people off to war again and again understaffed and underserved because 'We don't go to war with the army we want but with the army we got.' And that Army is now fully aware that they were lied to, that there was absolutely no truth in the Bush WMD's or any other reason for being in Iraq except personal vendettas and oil.
January 20, 2005
OP-ED COLUMNIST New York Times
Don't Know Much About Algebra
By MAUREEN DOWD
Lawrence Summers, the president of Harvard, has been pilloried for suggesting that women may be biologically unsuited to succeed at mathematics.
He may have a point.
Just look at Condoleezza Rice.
She's clearly a well-educated, intelligent woman, versed in Brahms and the Bolsheviks, who has just been rewarded for her loyalty with the most plum assignment in the second Bush cabinet.
Yet her math skills are woefully inadequate.
She can't do simple equations. She doesn't even know that X times zero equals zero. If you multiply 1,370 dead soldiers times zero weapons of mass destruction, that equals zero achievement for Ms. Rice, who helped the president and vice president bamboozle the country into war.
Was Condi out doing figure eights at the ice skating rink when she should have been home learning her figures? She couldn't have spent much time studying classic word problems: If two trains leave Chicago at noon, one going south at 20 miles an hour and one going north at 30 miles an hour, how far will each have gotten by midnight?
Otherwise, she might have realized that if two cars leave the Baghdad airport at noon on the main highway into the capital of Iraq, neither one is going to get there with any living passengers. Our 22 months at war have not added up to that one major highway's being secured.
It's lucky for Ms. Rice that she's serving with men who are just as lame at numbers as she is. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz couldn't be bothered to tally correctly the number of dead soldiers when he testified before Congress. And his boss, Donald Rumsfeld, didn't realize that using an autopen signature on more than 1,000 letters to the relatives of fallen troops added up to zero solace.
Our new top diplomat has obviously not mastered fractions. When she asserted during her confirmation hearing that 120,000 Iraqi troops had been trained, Senator Joe Biden corrected her, saying she was off by a bit. His calculation of trained Iraqi troops was actually 4,000 - hers was 30 times that. Maybe she's confusing hyperbole and hypotenuse.
Her geometry is skewed if she thinks she'll now be more powerful than Rummy and Dick Cheney. Doesn't she know that the Pentagon has more sides than her Crawford triangle with George and Laura?
She could at least have read "The Da Vinci Code." Then she would have learned about Fibonacci numbers, a recurring mathematical pattern in nature. When you invade a country, you should expect an insurgency. Or, as Fibonacci might have calculated it, if you kill one jihadist, two more arrive to take his place; if you kill three, five more pop up; if you get five, eight more appear, and so on.
The incoming secretary of state and her colleagues are, alas, also lousy at economics. After Bush officials promised that the postwar expenses would be covered by Iraqi oil revenues, we find ourselves spending $1 billion a week of our own money.
Ms. Rice and her fellow imperialists know so little about physics that they arrogantly jumped into "spooky action at a distance," turning the country they had hoped to make into a model democracy into a training ground for international terrorists, a nucleus for a new generation of radioactively dangerous fanatics.
How could they forget Newton's third law: for every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction?
The administration needs a lesson in subtraction. How do we subtract our troops and replace them with Iraqi troops while the terrorists keep subtracting Iraqi troops with car bombs and rocket-propelled grenades?
Condi may not know Einstein's theory of relativity, but she has a fine grasp of Cheney's theory of moral relativity. Because they're the good guys, they can do anything: dissembling to get into war; flattening Iraqi cities to save them; replacing the Geneva Conventions with unconventional ways of making prisoners talk. The only equation the Bushies know is this one: Might = Right.
It is puzzling that if you add X (no exit strategy) to Y (Why are we there?) you get W²: George Bush's second inauguration.
At Condi's hearing, she justified the Bush administration's misadventures by saying history would prove it right. "I know enough about history to stand back and to recognize that you judge decisions not at the moment, but in how it all adds up," she told a skeptical Senator Biden.
Problem is, she's calculating, but she can't add. For now, Sam Cooke is right about the Bushies. They don't know much about history.
Today is the inauguration - what a waste of dough that could be used for peace, or even for armor for soldiers instead of them sitting there taking slabs of steel and riveting them to their trucks for the illusion of protection. But, no, we send people off to war again and again understaffed and underserved because 'We don't go to war with the army we want but with the army we got.' And that Army is now fully aware that they were lied to, that there was absolutely no truth in the Bush WMD's or any other reason for being in Iraq except personal vendettas and oil.
January 20, 2005
OP-ED COLUMNIST New York Times
Don't Know Much About Algebra
By MAUREEN DOWD
Lawrence Summers, the president of Harvard, has been pilloried for suggesting that women may be biologically unsuited to succeed at mathematics.
He may have a point.
Just look at Condoleezza Rice.
She's clearly a well-educated, intelligent woman, versed in Brahms and the Bolsheviks, who has just been rewarded for her loyalty with the most plum assignment in the second Bush cabinet.
Yet her math skills are woefully inadequate.
She can't do simple equations. She doesn't even know that X times zero equals zero. If you multiply 1,370 dead soldiers times zero weapons of mass destruction, that equals zero achievement for Ms. Rice, who helped the president and vice president bamboozle the country into war.
Was Condi out doing figure eights at the ice skating rink when she should have been home learning her figures? She couldn't have spent much time studying classic word problems: If two trains leave Chicago at noon, one going south at 20 miles an hour and one going north at 30 miles an hour, how far will each have gotten by midnight?
Otherwise, she might have realized that if two cars leave the Baghdad airport at noon on the main highway into the capital of Iraq, neither one is going to get there with any living passengers. Our 22 months at war have not added up to that one major highway's being secured.
It's lucky for Ms. Rice that she's serving with men who are just as lame at numbers as she is. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz couldn't be bothered to tally correctly the number of dead soldiers when he testified before Congress. And his boss, Donald Rumsfeld, didn't realize that using an autopen signature on more than 1,000 letters to the relatives of fallen troops added up to zero solace.
Our new top diplomat has obviously not mastered fractions. When she asserted during her confirmation hearing that 120,000 Iraqi troops had been trained, Senator Joe Biden corrected her, saying she was off by a bit. His calculation of trained Iraqi troops was actually 4,000 - hers was 30 times that. Maybe she's confusing hyperbole and hypotenuse.
Her geometry is skewed if she thinks she'll now be more powerful than Rummy and Dick Cheney. Doesn't she know that the Pentagon has more sides than her Crawford triangle with George and Laura?
She could at least have read "The Da Vinci Code." Then she would have learned about Fibonacci numbers, a recurring mathematical pattern in nature. When you invade a country, you should expect an insurgency. Or, as Fibonacci might have calculated it, if you kill one jihadist, two more arrive to take his place; if you kill three, five more pop up; if you get five, eight more appear, and so on.
The incoming secretary of state and her colleagues are, alas, also lousy at economics. After Bush officials promised that the postwar expenses would be covered by Iraqi oil revenues, we find ourselves spending $1 billion a week of our own money.
Ms. Rice and her fellow imperialists know so little about physics that they arrogantly jumped into "spooky action at a distance," turning the country they had hoped to make into a model democracy into a training ground for international terrorists, a nucleus for a new generation of radioactively dangerous fanatics.
How could they forget Newton's third law: for every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction?
The administration needs a lesson in subtraction. How do we subtract our troops and replace them with Iraqi troops while the terrorists keep subtracting Iraqi troops with car bombs and rocket-propelled grenades?
Condi may not know Einstein's theory of relativity, but she has a fine grasp of Cheney's theory of moral relativity. Because they're the good guys, they can do anything: dissembling to get into war; flattening Iraqi cities to save them; replacing the Geneva Conventions with unconventional ways of making prisoners talk. The only equation the Bushies know is this one: Might = Right.
It is puzzling that if you add X (no exit strategy) to Y (Why are we there?) you get W²: George Bush's second inauguration.
At Condi's hearing, she justified the Bush administration's misadventures by saying history would prove it right. "I know enough about history to stand back and to recognize that you judge decisions not at the moment, but in how it all adds up," she told a skeptical Senator Biden.
Problem is, she's calculating, but she can't add. For now, Sam Cooke is right about the Bushies. They don't know much about history.
Monday, January 17, 2005
Western Leadership
Well this weekend I was at the NEA Western Regional Leadership Conference in Denver. Plus, I got to do some night time geocaching with my friend Michelle - we had a blast!
Reg Weaver is the president of NEA, he gave a nice speech Friday night. This isn't exactly what he said but a small portion of it simplified a bit. It was fun and hopefully useful - that remains to be seen if we can put anything from the conference to good use.
Reg Weaver's Ten Commandments! You want public education to be great in this country? Then try following these:
Commandment Number One: Thou shalt not pretend to reform schools by passing some bogus Ten Commandments law that will most likely be declared unconstitutional.
Commandment Number Two: Thou shalt not say that children are America's top priority when 20 percent of America's children live in poverty, 15 percent have no health insurance, and 13 children are killed by gunfire every single day.
Commandment Number Three: Thou shalt recognize that only public education has the potential to provide each and every child in America with a quality education, and therefore, thou shalt not abandon public schools, but redeem and enhance them.
Commandment Number Four: Thou shalt not spend more money on prisons than on schools. The more quality schools you have, the fewer prisons you'll need.
Commandment Number Five: Thou shalt not kid thyself that paying starting teachers $20,000 a year is any way to attract and retain the best and the brightest educators for our kids. Thou shalt support future teachers - not insult them.
Commandment Number Six: Thou shalt respect every child as precious and capable of learning - regardless of their background - and treat them as the valuable natural resource that they are.
Commandment Number Seven: Thou shalt not bash teachers - especially when thou has not been in a classroom thyself for the last 35 years.
Commandment Number Eight: Thou shalt honor not only teachers, but the people who drive the buses, clean the hallways, serve the lunches, counsel the students, take the attendance, nurse the injured, assist in the classrooms, and run our nation's schools with dignity and dedication and grace.
Commandment Number Nine: Thou shalt recognize that quality education requires everybody in the education community to work together cooperatively - from retired teachers to new administrators to parents - and engage them accordingly.
And finally, Commandment Number Ten: Thou shalt remember that public education must always be an immediate priority and a long-term investment. Schools must not be subjected to quick fixes or get-rich-quick schemes.
And what the heck. Let me add an Eleventh Commandment: Thou shalt not determine a student's entire future by the results of a single ultra-high stakes test -- especially if that test is inherently flawed and unfair!
And a Twelfth Commandment! Why not? Commandment Number Twelve: Thou shalt not establish a whole new set of standards for schools without aligning them with the curriculum! Or, without aligning them with the tests! Or without any input from the teachers who are actually going to have to teach them! And thou shalt certainly not hold schools accountable to these standards without giving them the help and the resources they need to meet them!
Now those are Twelve Commandments that will make a truly extraordinary difference for children all across America!
Reg Weaver is the president of NEA, he gave a nice speech Friday night. This isn't exactly what he said but a small portion of it simplified a bit. It was fun and hopefully useful - that remains to be seen if we can put anything from the conference to good use.
Reg Weaver's Ten Commandments! You want public education to be great in this country? Then try following these:
Commandment Number One: Thou shalt not pretend to reform schools by passing some bogus Ten Commandments law that will most likely be declared unconstitutional.
Commandment Number Two: Thou shalt not say that children are America's top priority when 20 percent of America's children live in poverty, 15 percent have no health insurance, and 13 children are killed by gunfire every single day.
Commandment Number Three: Thou shalt recognize that only public education has the potential to provide each and every child in America with a quality education, and therefore, thou shalt not abandon public schools, but redeem and enhance them.
Commandment Number Four: Thou shalt not spend more money on prisons than on schools. The more quality schools you have, the fewer prisons you'll need.
Commandment Number Five: Thou shalt not kid thyself that paying starting teachers $20,000 a year is any way to attract and retain the best and the brightest educators for our kids. Thou shalt support future teachers - not insult them.
Commandment Number Six: Thou shalt respect every child as precious and capable of learning - regardless of their background - and treat them as the valuable natural resource that they are.
Commandment Number Seven: Thou shalt not bash teachers - especially when thou has not been in a classroom thyself for the last 35 years.
Commandment Number Eight: Thou shalt honor not only teachers, but the people who drive the buses, clean the hallways, serve the lunches, counsel the students, take the attendance, nurse the injured, assist in the classrooms, and run our nation's schools with dignity and dedication and grace.
Commandment Number Nine: Thou shalt recognize that quality education requires everybody in the education community to work together cooperatively - from retired teachers to new administrators to parents - and engage them accordingly.
And finally, Commandment Number Ten: Thou shalt remember that public education must always be an immediate priority and a long-term investment. Schools must not be subjected to quick fixes or get-rich-quick schemes.
And what the heck. Let me add an Eleventh Commandment: Thou shalt not determine a student's entire future by the results of a single ultra-high stakes test -- especially if that test is inherently flawed and unfair!
And a Twelfth Commandment! Why not? Commandment Number Twelve: Thou shalt not establish a whole new set of standards for schools without aligning them with the curriculum! Or, without aligning them with the tests! Or without any input from the teachers who are actually going to have to teach them! And thou shalt certainly not hold schools accountable to these standards without giving them the help and the resources they need to meet them!
Now those are Twelve Commandments that will make a truly extraordinary difference for children all across America!
Thursday, January 13, 2005
Out
I'll be out of town tomorrow and Saturday, insha'allah, back late sometime Sunday.
Maybe I'll have something sort of interesting to post then.
Here's a bit of a riddle:
What is significant about this poem?
Sir, I send a rhyme excelling
In sacred truth and rigid spelling
Numerical sprites elucidate
For me the lexicon's dull weight.
Maybe I'll have something sort of interesting to post then.
Here's a bit of a riddle:
What is significant about this poem?
Sir, I send a rhyme excelling
In sacred truth and rigid spelling
Numerical sprites elucidate
For me the lexicon's dull weight.
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
First Impressions?
1: Here is my pic, can I have yours? How much do you weigh?
2: Call me! 555-555-5555.
3: spouse: The woman should be very pleasant and respectful of elders. The woman is essential to the harmony of the home. she should be between ages of 16 and 23. myself: I am 35 year old professional.
4: We are looking for a girl for our son. He comes from a respectable family. She must be slim, beautiful, good cook and ready to relocate across the globe.
5: I am looking for American girl.
6: hi im eductd hard workar. lookng for nice girl.
7: I want to marry a doctor or lawyer only. He should be good looking, too.
8: I'm looking for a syed boy with good education.
9: I want a shia boy who understands our culture, but he should not be too religious.
(They're made up, btw)
2: Call me! 555-555-5555.
3: spouse: The woman should be very pleasant and respectful of elders. The woman is essential to the harmony of the home. she should be between ages of 16 and 23. myself: I am 35 year old professional.
4: We are looking for a girl for our son. He comes from a respectable family. She must be slim, beautiful, good cook and ready to relocate across the globe.
5: I am looking for American girl.
6: hi im eductd hard workar. lookng for nice girl.
7: I want to marry a doctor or lawyer only. He should be good looking, too.
8: I'm looking for a syed boy with good education.
9: I want a shia boy who understands our culture, but he should not be too religious.
(They're made up, btw)
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
My Quiz For You to Answer
1. How long do you spend on the Internet on average per day?
2. How many blogs do you usually read?
3. How did you find this one?
4. If you had a secret code name, what would it be?
5. How did you end up with your current religion?
6. What is the difference between religion and spirituality? Which is more important?
7. What color should my living room walls be? Bedroom?
2. How many blogs do you usually read?
3. How did you find this one?
4. If you had a secret code name, what would it be?
5. How did you end up with your current religion?
6. What is the difference between religion and spirituality? Which is more important?
7. What color should my living room walls be? Bedroom?
Monday, January 10, 2005
new year's quiz stolen from Chris
2004
1. What did you do this year that you've never done before?
Played Nintendo GameCube, Geocaching, went to Pennsylvania
2. Did you keep your new years resolution and what is yours for this year?
I don't really make NY resolutions. I make them as I go, particularly at the start of something new, like a new school year, new semester, new summer break. I have several things to work on.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No
4. Did anyone close to you die?
My aunt
5. What countries did you visit?
None
6. What would you like to have in 2005 that you didn't have in 2004?
Improved fitness, a cleaner house, new friends
7. What dates will remain attached in your memory
I probably won't remember anything in terms of its date.
8. What was your biggest acheivment in 2004?
Getting divorced
9. Biggest failure
Getting divorced
10. Did you suffer from illness or injury?
No, alhumdooleluh, nothing serious
11. What was the best thing you bought?
a new refrigerator - important if you need one
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
mom, brother
13. Whose behaviour made you appaled or depressed?
dad
14. Where did you spend most of your money?
bills
15. What were you most excited about?
teaching AP Stats
16. What song will always remind you of 2004?
don't have one
17. Compared to this time last year, are you happier or sadder?
same
18. Richer or poorer?
richer, I got a raise
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
praying without good concentration
20. How will you be celebrating Eid Al-Adha?
nothing planned
21. Did you fall in love this year?
maybe
22. What was your favorite anasheed or naat?
the one's Renee and Leila gave me
21. Do you hate anyone that you didn't hate last year?
no
22. What was the best book you read?
Islamic - light of Holy Qur'an
non-Islamic - Hillerman or Dan Brown
23. What was your greatest musical discovery?
none
24. What did you want and get?
I have every material thing I really need.
25. What was your favorite film this year?
Maybe The Bourne Supremacy.
26. How would you describe your fashion statement?
Islamic semi-clean occasionally wrinkled professional, unless it is a weekend.
27. What kept you sane in 2004?
patience and hope
28. What political issue stirred you the most?
Headscarf ban, Presidential election, our school board
29. Who was the best new person you met in 2004?
in person I finally met Sakina Dewji, also Mehdi Husain and Freda. I met lots of great people online.
30. What lesson did you learn in 2004 that best sums up your year?
I learn this one a lot - everything happpens in His time, not ours.
31. Song lyric that sums up your life in 2004?
none
1. What did you do this year that you've never done before?
Played Nintendo GameCube, Geocaching, went to Pennsylvania
2. Did you keep your new years resolution and what is yours for this year?
I don't really make NY resolutions. I make them as I go, particularly at the start of something new, like a new school year, new semester, new summer break. I have several things to work on.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No
4. Did anyone close to you die?
My aunt
5. What countries did you visit?
None
6. What would you like to have in 2005 that you didn't have in 2004?
Improved fitness, a cleaner house, new friends
7. What dates will remain attached in your memory
I probably won't remember anything in terms of its date.
8. What was your biggest acheivment in 2004?
Getting divorced
9. Biggest failure
Getting divorced
10. Did you suffer from illness or injury?
No, alhumdooleluh, nothing serious
11. What was the best thing you bought?
a new refrigerator - important if you need one
12. Whose behaviour merited celebration?
mom, brother
13. Whose behaviour made you appaled or depressed?
dad
14. Where did you spend most of your money?
bills
15. What were you most excited about?
teaching AP Stats
16. What song will always remind you of 2004?
don't have one
17. Compared to this time last year, are you happier or sadder?
same
18. Richer or poorer?
richer, I got a raise
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
praying without good concentration
20. How will you be celebrating Eid Al-Adha?
nothing planned
21. Did you fall in love this year?
maybe
22. What was your favorite anasheed or naat?
the one's Renee and Leila gave me
21. Do you hate anyone that you didn't hate last year?
no
22. What was the best book you read?
Islamic - light of Holy Qur'an
non-Islamic - Hillerman or Dan Brown
23. What was your greatest musical discovery?
none
24. What did you want and get?
I have every material thing I really need.
25. What was your favorite film this year?
Maybe The Bourne Supremacy.
26. How would you describe your fashion statement?
Islamic semi-clean occasionally wrinkled professional, unless it is a weekend.
27. What kept you sane in 2004?
patience and hope
28. What political issue stirred you the most?
Headscarf ban, Presidential election, our school board
29. Who was the best new person you met in 2004?
in person I finally met Sakina Dewji, also Mehdi Husain and Freda. I met lots of great people online.
30. What lesson did you learn in 2004 that best sums up your year?
I learn this one a lot - everything happpens in His time, not ours.
31. Song lyric that sums up your life in 2004?
none
Sunday, January 09, 2005
nothing much
A vision of a new, better life
A partner who cares about you
A community to grow in
Would you trade familiarity
security and home?
If you have hope and faith you would.
Well, it is decided for you,
The future goes on without you.
So you settle your vision for the future you already know.
Being alone.
Well, I expect to be busy this week with graduate school and union stuff. Next weekend (Thursday evening through Sunday) I am supposed to be in Denver for a union thing, insha'allah.
I've not been motivated to blog anything interesting lately; I haven't felt interesting myself.
Well, have a good week - man, are weekends short!
A partner who cares about you
A community to grow in
Would you trade familiarity
security and home?
If you have hope and faith you would.
Well, it is decided for you,
The future goes on without you.
So you settle your vision for the future you already know.
Being alone.
Well, I expect to be busy this week with graduate school and union stuff. Next weekend (Thursday evening through Sunday) I am supposed to be in Denver for a union thing, insha'allah.
I've not been motivated to blog anything interesting lately; I haven't felt interesting myself.
Well, have a good week - man, are weekends short!
Friday, January 07, 2005
Friday Earth Day
Today is Dahwul Ardh - Earth Day, according to some Islamic sources, as I mentioned before. It is said that Prophet Ibrahim and Prophet Isa (sa) were both born today. The hadith also say something about the ka'aba coming down today or the Earth being laid out beneath it. I have no idea what that means. It doesn't really make sense to me to talk about the Earth being created on a specific date. Dates are determined in our calendars by relative positions of moon, sun, and earth. If they didn't exist yet, then there would be no such thing as 25th Dhul Hijjah or January 7, etc. I suppose we could mean just counting backward as if those things had still existed, but how do you count backward on the Islamic calendar precisely when you don't know if months are going to be 29 or 30 days long, you could end up a little bit off.
I just finished reading Angels & Demons by Dan Brown. Someone lent it to my mother and she lent it to me. When I first started it, it seemed to be almost too much like The Da Vinci Code. There are a lot of similarities - same hero, another heroine but developed in a similar context to the other heroine. Same overall background - it is very much about religion, in this case, the Catholic church. Same style of short chapters with lots of action and a certain level of implausibility that makes it interesting. But the story was unique and in many ways I think the story's climax and conclusion is far superior to the Da Vinci Code. So I recommend it for you readers out there. My next reading assignment will either by a third Dan Brown book or the latest Hillerman novel, I think.
School: Things going normally so far. Mastery classes are still too large and we haven't determined a solution for that yet. I scheduled computer lab stuff today. I think I would really like to be some kind of computer teacher, I enjoy those days quite a bit - the kids are very busy. Grad school break is over and I have TONS of stuff to do this weekend for it. Actually I have a paper due today that I'll have to squeeze into my schedule somehow even though it is movie night. I had intended to do it last night but I got carried away with finish the Dan Brown book instead. Next week is looking to be very busy. Laura and I have plans Tuesday night, Wednesday night is Board of Education, and Thursday night through Sunday I should be at Western Leadership for CSEA up in Denver - a conference/training thing.
I'm thinking tonight we might go see the Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou or whatever that movie is called - because Owen Wilson is in it and we've so far enjoyed all his movies.
I just finished reading Angels & Demons by Dan Brown. Someone lent it to my mother and she lent it to me. When I first started it, it seemed to be almost too much like The Da Vinci Code. There are a lot of similarities - same hero, another heroine but developed in a similar context to the other heroine. Same overall background - it is very much about religion, in this case, the Catholic church. Same style of short chapters with lots of action and a certain level of implausibility that makes it interesting. But the story was unique and in many ways I think the story's climax and conclusion is far superior to the Da Vinci Code. So I recommend it for you readers out there. My next reading assignment will either by a third Dan Brown book or the latest Hillerman novel, I think.
School: Things going normally so far. Mastery classes are still too large and we haven't determined a solution for that yet. I scheduled computer lab stuff today. I think I would really like to be some kind of computer teacher, I enjoy those days quite a bit - the kids are very busy. Grad school break is over and I have TONS of stuff to do this weekend for it. Actually I have a paper due today that I'll have to squeeze into my schedule somehow even though it is movie night. I had intended to do it last night but I got carried away with finish the Dan Brown book instead. Next week is looking to be very busy. Laura and I have plans Tuesday night, Wednesday night is Board of Education, and Thursday night through Sunday I should be at Western Leadership for CSEA up in Denver - a conference/training thing.
I'm thinking tonight we might go see the Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou or whatever that movie is called - because Owen Wilson is in it and we've so far enjoyed all his movies.
Wednesday, January 05, 2005
Back to Work
Well, it's back to work!
Yesterday teachers went back and today students are supposed to join us. I started with a seven a.m meeting at West middle school, then had a few hours in my classroom, then went to Wasson high school for another meeting in the afternoon, followed by CSEA meting in the evening. I managed to get a few counselors to move some kids into a smaller geometry class, but before I left yesterday I had 30 kids in my Mastery class, which isn't good because it is a computer-based class and I don't think we have that many functioning computers in the lab. So I'll have to try to figure out what to do about that today. I have to remember I have study hall duty today because it is Wednesday - easy to forget! I didn't get as much plan time as I could've used so a few plans for the day are still a bit fuzzy at the moment.
It is cold and snowy outside but it doesn't look like we got any delays or closures. Gotta get out there and start the car early or I'll be scraping windows for awhile.
Yesterday teachers went back and today students are supposed to join us. I started with a seven a.m meeting at West middle school, then had a few hours in my classroom, then went to Wasson high school for another meeting in the afternoon, followed by CSEA meting in the evening. I managed to get a few counselors to move some kids into a smaller geometry class, but before I left yesterday I had 30 kids in my Mastery class, which isn't good because it is a computer-based class and I don't think we have that many functioning computers in the lab. So I'll have to try to figure out what to do about that today. I have to remember I have study hall duty today because it is Wednesday - easy to forget! I didn't get as much plan time as I could've used so a few plans for the day are still a bit fuzzy at the moment.
It is cold and snowy outside but it doesn't look like we got any delays or closures. Gotta get out there and start the car early or I'll be scraping windows for awhile.
Monday, January 03, 2005
More on Donations
At that site, orphan sponsorships are about $400-$600/yr. I'd rather not do monthly because if people didn't meet their commitment then others would have to make the difference and might not be able to do.
Tsunami donation can be any amount.
Other organizations have sponsorships, I don't know what organization might be best. I sponsored orphans through Childreach for a decade, they're a non-religious organization, but they're cheaper.
It all depends on what you want and how much money we're talking about that people will commit, etc.
Tsunami donation can be any amount.
Other organizations have sponsorships, I don't know what organization might be best. I sponsored orphans through Childreach for a decade, they're a non-religious organization, but they're cheaper.
It all depends on what you want and how much money we're talking about that people will commit, etc.
Saturday, January 01, 2005
Tsunami Relief
Donations Accepted Here
Just a thought: what if every blog reader donated at least $5 dollars for relief? Or if we put together $5 each per month to sponsor an orphan or two together?
Just a thought: what if every blog reader donated at least $5 dollars for relief? Or if we put together $5 each per month to sponsor an orphan or two together?
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